A 19-yr-old hitchhiker’s guide to travelling light

Pranal Khatri has travelled around the country, with hardly any money on him

Even when Pranaal Khatri was preparing for his Class 12 Chemistry exam, he had made a decision. He knew he had to take a path not tread often. He wanted to take a break from studies and travel, meet people and understand them, all by hitchhiking.

And that’s exactly what he did, after completing his exams. His journey as a hitchhiker saw him hitching rides on bullock carts, two-wheelers, luxury cars such as BMW and trucks.

In Karnataka now, Khatri was on his way to Yellapur in Uttar Kannada district from Gokarnat. At Yellapur, he plans to interact with the Siddi tribes.

“Travel had three challenges- transportation, food and accommodation and since I come from a middle class family, I knew my parents would not give me money,” he told BM. So how did he dodge the money issue? “During my journey, I never accept money, nor do I ask people for food. I stay on streets, camps, or at hostels- where I volunteer,” he said.

His journey began in November 2017 from Rajasthan and he has travelled the whole of North India and covered 21 states, and returned home after eight months. He stayed home for less than a month and soon decided to travel to Mangaluru to learn surfing. He stayed at a surf club as a volunteer.

Once he spent all the money that he had brought along with him from home, he decided to hit the roads again. He felt that he had not explored enough of South India and started his journey again and has travelled to Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hampi, Koppal and Gokarna. This time he is reaching out to villages.

“It took me almost four months to convince my parents. For them there was pressure from the society. My parents felt that I would give up easily and return home soon,” he said.

There have been days when Pranaal has covered about 400 km travelling or even walked for several kilometres.

“This journey does not have a particular purpose, but it is about meeting new people and trying to inspire young minds. I was not great at academics and understand very well what a student goes through when he fails. I learn from people and listen to their stories. During my first journey, I followed Google maps, but now I just go where my heart and mind take me,” he said.

At times, hitchhiking is tiring as you are easily drained because of the heat. I try and find good stories and would like to write a book someday

–Pranal Khatri

There have also been difficult moments for the teen. When he was in Nepal, he fell sick and a British national looked after him. For three days, he was sleeping in a room with running temperature. He was just thinking of getting back home, but once he recovered, the roads did not allow him to go back home.

He can stay without food for two days, but at times craves for good food too. On a couple of occasions, he has hopped into prominent eating joints and has been lucky to get good meals.

“I believe that when you are good to people, people are good to you. At Jalandhar, a policeman paid for my stay at a temple premise. In Leh- Ladak, the police and army have been very helpful. In Bihar I also had chai with petty thieves,” he said.